State University of New York at Albany. School of Criminal Justice

The idea for a school of criminology was originally proposed by Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller during his first term as Governor (1958-1962), and on March 11, 1965, the SUNY Board of Trustees authorized the creation of the School of Criminal Justice. On June 15, 1966, Richard A. Myren was appointed as Dean of the School of Criminal Justice, and he was charged with the task of developing the graduate academic program of the School as well as with faculty recruitment. In September of 1968, the first group of students was admitted to the newly formed School of Criminal Justice. The two programs of the School were the M.A. and the Ph.D. in Criminal Justice, and in August 1971, the first Ph.D. from the School of Criminal Justice was awarded. In 1981 the Nelson A. Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy was formed, and the School of Criminal Justice became one of the four interdependent schools that comprise the college. In 1982, an undergraduate program in Criminal Justice was instituted. In October of 1980, the Center on Minorities and Criminal Justice was founded in order to continue research related to minorities and criminal justice. Due to a lack of continued funding, the Center was officially disbanded in January of 1982. In 1985, the School of Criminal Justice was ranked as the top program in its field in the United States based on scholarly productivity and reputation. The School became affiliated with the Hindelang Criminal Justice Research Center, a leading center for the analysis and dissemination of criminal justice statistics information.